Buying a house

Bodemprijsaankoopmakelaar gives more information about buying a house in Holland.

1. Buying or renting a house in Holland?
2. Can I buy here and do I also need to invest myself?
3. Using a buying broker to act on your behalf
4. Freehold of leasehold
5. VvE/ The owner’s association
6. Documents required
7. Deposit and mortgage
8. Doing a technical inspection
9. House prices and overbidding
10. After the verbal agreement

Buying or renting a house in Holland?

Buying a home in The Netherlands as a foreigner is a big step and can be quite exciting. But do not forget that it normally is a good investment and the costs are much lower than renting, especially for an expat. There is a lot of money involved and most people want to be sure that they have a buying broker besides them who acts on their behalf.

Can I buy here and do I also need to invest myself?

You can normally buy a house as a foreigner (resident or non-resident) in Holland and you will be able to finance 100% of the purchase price with the bank. If the purchase price is more than the valuation price (this is by the bank obligated done after the bought by a third party) you have to put the difference in yourself. A buying broker can more or less advise you if the bid is equivalent the value. If you are bidding over the asking price this is for consumers difficult to determine.

De additional costs involving with the bought you always have to pay for yourself. Before 2018 you could still finance some of these costs by the bank. Normally the extra costs involved are around 6% of the purchase price, but this also depends on the buying price. Calculate with 2% tax of the purchase price, notary costs ca. 1500 euro, valuation costs 450 euro and Kadaster costs around 200 euros, plus buying broker fees (in general around 1%) and costs for the mortgage adviser (between 2500 and 3500 euro).

Using a buying broker to act on your behalf

Using a real estate agent for the bought is very common in Holland. When you are a foreigner it is specially advisable because there are a lot of rules which you perhaps do not know about and the selling broker takes you more serious. This is extremely important when there are more people interested in the property. The costs for the broker a buyer will pay and the selling broker is paid by the owner.

Freehold of leasehold

It is common to buy a property in freehold and in Leasehold in The Netherlands. If you buy a leasehold property and you are paying a monthly fee which is periodic deductible from the taxes (income tax) in Holland. Sometimes these payments are bought off for a period off time.

Freehold: If you own the freehold property, it means that you own the building and the land it stands on. It is your own name in the land registry as “freeholder”, owning the “title eigendom”. Freehold is pretty much always the preferred option: you can’t really go wrong with it but in Holland also the leasehold is used.

Leasehold: Leasehold means that you have a lease from the freeholder (the landlord or mostly government) to use the land for a number of years. The leases are usually long term – often 100 years and the right to pay are often bought off for a period of 50 or also 100 years. If this period runs out you start paying monthly or you can buy the right to use of for an additional 50 years. It is rather costly to do so, in general you pay 17 times the amount you pay per year for a 50 years period. These cost are not tax deductible.

If the right end you can use the land the Landlords must, if he does not want to extend the right to use the land, pay the worth of the house which is standing on his land.

VvE/ The owner’s association

In The Netherlands almost every apartment building is managed by an owner’s association, called a Vereniging van Eigenaren (VvE). If this VvE is not active with saving and maintenance it will be very difficult to get the property mortgaged by the bank. Also, the VvE need to save 0,5% of the rebuilding costs and they need to have a plan for maintenance (MJOP) during the coming years. If these things are not in order some banks will not mortgage the property or some banks ask for a technical inspection report instead to find out the technical state.

The VvE is responsible for general repairs and maintenance and may be well or poorly ruined, or even have gone into debts. Sometimes they made a discussion to do big repairs so then you have to pay a huge amount yourself. A buying broker can help you with sorting this out for example by looking into the status of the previous meetings.

Documents required

Further, terms and conditions relating to the shared spaces will be explained in the property division deed and regulations (splitsingsakte en reglement) and which should be included with your documentation at the time the bought. You also want to get the owners deed (eigendomsbewijs) in where things are written what you can or cannot do with the property. Ask all the documentation of the VvE and maybe there is something known about polluted land, concrete rot or asbestos in the property. And is the information the selling broker is giving you the wright and total information?

Deposit and mortgage

Your mortgage will be reviewed after the provisional sale contract is signed and all the documents (from your employer and the valuation report for example)are uploaded in the system of the bank. The deposit of 10% can be payed by the bank also, but you can als pay this yourself to save some costs.

Doing a technical inspection

If you have found a property which you want to purchase you can sometimes negotiate on the asking price but many times you have to bid more than the asking price in order to get it. Before doing a bid on the property it is sometimes wise to do a structural or building survey or you can do the bid and do the technical inspection later. The negotiations are usually done through the buyer’s and seller’s estate agents. If you are doing a technical inspection before bidding this can work to your disadvantage. We are pleased to explain you why this is.

House prices and overbidding

Since the beginning of 2017 house prices are rising very hard and prices are higher than before the crises which started in 2008. At the moment (2018) there is much demand for housing and it is very hard to buy a house. This because in average maybe 10 to 40 other people also want to buy the same property. The asking price is nothing more than a price which you have to ad 5-20% on top. It is very important to bid the good amount because the bank will not give more mortgage that the real value. If you have own savings and you want to use this than it is no problem. Without a buying broker you only find out later. The selling broker probably wants to know if you have the money bidding over the asking price as savings.

After the verbal agreement

• After the acceptation of the bid and the date of transfer (standard roughly 2 months) the formal steps take place.
• Buyer and seller sign a pre-sale agreement which is made up by the selling broker. Your buying broker will check the contract for you.
• A translator is required to attend the notary meeting in cases where one or more of the parties do not understand the Dutch language very good. Accredited translators can be hard to get, be sure you book in advance. Fees are normally around EUR 300.
• A notary (notaris) is selected by the buyer who holds the signed contract and will protect the 10 percent deposit paid by the buyer. You can choose any notary located in Holland.
• Buyer and seller sign a definitive buying contract on the date of transfer with the notary office and exchange keys
• The buyer is registered in the Kadaster as an owner of the house. When this is happened, the notary will send the money of the buyer(s) to the previous owner.

If you want to have a private meeting we are more than happy to receive you free of charge to tell you more about the market and our approach.  You can now als claim your 250 euro discount here!

More information

Gerenommeerde brancheorganisatie VBO

De Bodemprijsaankoopmakelaar is aangesloten bij de Vereniging Bemiddeling Onroerend goed, welke staat voor kwaliteit en integriteit. Voor het belang van de kopers val ik tevens onder het toezicht van de geschillencommissie makelaardij consumentenmarkt, die klachten behandeld en onafhankelijk beoordeeld.